Mali War: what Wikipedia removed
The Mali War is the armed conflict that began in 2012 when insurgent and Islamist groups, including AQIM and Ansar Dine, fought the Malian government. Through October 2023 the opening said the MNLA “were initially backed by the Islamist group Ansar Dine” and that despite a 2015 ceasefire, “sporadic terrorist attacks still occur.” Today the opening is a list of belligerents with no prose describing the war, and terror appears zero times in the opening though it survives nineteen times in the article. A reader today learns which countries and factions fought, and not that Islamist groups were involved from the start or that terrorist attacks continued after the 2015 ceasefire.
The word “terror” appeared 3 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2020. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 19. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| militant | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| islamist | 23 | 21 | 16 | 2 |
| jihad | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| massacre | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| resistance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The definitional opening sentence naming the conflict, dropped in favor of the infobox.
- The sentence dating the start of the war to 16 January 2012 and naming the insurgent campaign, dropped from the opening.
- The fact that the MNLA was initially backed by the Islamist group Ansar Dine, dropped from the opening.
- The detail that Islamist-held territory was retaken by the Malian army by 8 February, dropped from the opening.
- The sentence noting that sporadic terrorist attacks continued after the 2015 ceasefire, dropped from the opening.
- A sentence on developments following the peace accord, dropped from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2015 (revision 669317617):
For other armed conflicts that occurred in northern Mali, see Tuareg rebellion . Belligerents Government of Mali Military of Mali France File:Flag of West Africa ― Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).jpg ECOWAS full list Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Liberia Niger Nigeria Sierra Leone Senegal Togo Chad Burundi Gabon South Africa Rwanda Tanzania Uganda China Supported by: full list European Union Angola Australia Belgium Bulgaria Canada Comoros Czech Republic Denmark Germany Hungary Ireland Italy India Japan Morocco Namibia Netherlands Romania Spain United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Turkey Non-state combatants: Ganda…
2025 (revision 1298348409):
Armed conflict in Mali that started in January 2012 For other armed conflicts that occurred in northern Mali, see Tuareg rebellion . Belligerents 2012–2013 Mali 2013–2022/23 Mali France MINUSMA Chad (2013 only) Wagner Group (from 2021) Supported by: EUTM Mali Others Angola Australia Belgium Canada Denmark Germany India Iran Italy Japan Namibia Netherlands Spain United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States 2023– Mali Russia (2024–) Africa Corps Wagner Group (until 2025) Support: North Korea Native militia 2014– Platform MPSA Ganda Iso MAA Loyalists MSA (2019–) GATIA (2019–23) 2015–23 CSP (from 2021) CMA Platform (from 2021) 2012 MNLA Al-Qaeda AQIM Ansaru Ansar Dine MOJWA Boko Haram 2012–…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
Wikipedia text is quoted under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is not affiliated with Wikipedia.